Noticeboard

Please note that this website is available in 80 different languages! Click the Translate Page button located under Quick Links on the right side of the page if you wish to view the site in another language.

We have become a Hub! Please see the section to the right (under "Further Information") for more details!

NHS 111

In the case of urgent need when the practice is closed you can callNHS 111to speak to a triage nurse. Your needs will be assessed and advice offered or arrangements made for you to see a doctor.

Call 999 in a medical emergency. Chest pains and / or shortness of breath constitute an emergency.

The practice will be open again, as usual on Tuesday 8th May 2018.

Online Repeat Prescriptions

Bath Row Medical Practice now offers the facility to request your repeat prescriptions online up to 7 days before they are due. To use this service you will need to be registered for online services at the practice. If you are a new patient at the practice this service will be offered when you register with us. If you are an existing patient please bring I.D (Passport, Driving Licence, Birth Certificate, Bank Statement or Utility Bill) to a member of our reception team who will help you register. Please note that in some cases the doctor will need to check your medication is safe for online prescribing before your online details are issued.

Summary Care Record (SCR)

Friends and Family Test

The NHS Friends and Family Test (FFT) is the largest healthcare patient experience in the world. It is based on the simple question "Would you recommend this service to your friends and family if they needed similar care or treatment?"

Please click the "Friends and Family Test" link under the heading "Have your say" on the right of this page in order to complete the Friends and Family Test.

Alternatively questionnaires are available at the practice if you prefer.

Appointments

To arrange an appointment with a doctor or nurse please telephone 0121 622 4846 and choose Option 1 – Cancel, confirm or make an appointment.

Please note that we do not offer a walk-in facility - all consultations are by appointment only and doctors cannot see patients outside surgery hours as they have other duties at these times.

Making an Appointment

Please give the receptionist as much information as possible about the sort of appointment you would prefer.

Do you need to see a doctor?

You may not need to see a doctor as there are many health needs that can be met by other members of the health care team. Our practice nurses offer appointments for contraception review and sexual infection testing as well as on-going management of asthma,COPD, diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure. Our Health Care Assistant can provide phlebotomy, B12 injections, NHS health checks, blood pressure readings, ECG's and ear irrigation. Please ask for an appointment with the most appropriate member of our practice team.

Do you need an appointment outside working hours?

We offer a limited number of 'Extended Access Appointments' that are very helpful for people who work during the day. Please see the tab above for more details and ask the receptionist for one of these when you phone to make an appointment. Extended access appointments are now available with a nurse as well as a doctor.

Do you need an appointment as soon as possible?

If you have a new or acute illness you may want to be seen as soon as possible. If this is your priority please tell the receptionist this. We will generally offer you the first available appointment with any doctor. If being seen as soon as possible is your priority then we cannot guarantee that we will be able to provide an exact match with the time you would like to attend or the doctor you would prefer to see as this very much depends upon availability and demand for appointments. We will match your request as best we can and will aim to give you choices if we cannot. We do usually have both male and female doctors available so do please ask if you have a gender preference for a doctor. If we cannot offer you an appointment as soon as you would like we will offer you information about NHS 111 and your nearest available Urgent Care Centre, both of which will be able to offer you help at a time convenient to you. Please remember that your local pharmacist can also offer you free, confidential advice and many medicines are available over the counter.

Do you wish to see a particular doctor?

Because we have to be able to offer appointments within 48 hours for those with acute illnesses, we are able only to reserve a limited number of appointments for booking ahead with the doctor of your choice. Some doctors are very popular so it is possible that you may have to wait up to two weeks to see a doctor of your choice, depending on demand. If an appointment is not available with the doctor you wish to see when you call, you may be asked to telephone again another day to book ahead.

Do you need a review or follow-up appointment?

If your ill health is on-going, it is generally better for you if you see the same doctor the next time you attend. Please tell us if you would like to see the same doctor again and if this is possible we will try to arrange this. If you cannot remember who you saw last time, the receptionist will be able to look this up for you if you ask.

Do you need an appointment on a particular day and time?

If there is an occasion when you have a very specific need for an appointment time and we cannot provide this, you may prefer to attend one of the local Urgent Care Centres. Please see the section on Urgent Care for more details.

Do you need an interpreter?

An interpreter service is available but requires pre-booking. Please ask the receptionist to arrange this. You will be asked to identify the main language that you speak and your preference for male or female interpreter. The interpreter can usually be booked within 48 hours. It is important to arrive at the time stated by the receptionist for your consultation. Please let the receptionist know if you are unhappy with the interpreter.

Are you hearing impaired?

If you call in to see us we can set up a special arrangement to help you make appointments. Signing services are available for the deaf by prior arrangement. We also have an induction loop for your use at reception and in the consultation room - please ask the receptionist about this and we will make sure it is available when you arrive for your appointment.

Whatever your appointment need, our reception staff will do their best to offer you a helpful and friendly service. We do hope that you will speak to them politely in return, even if they cannot meet your exact requirements.

At Your Appointment

Our doctors and nurses do their best to run to time but this needs the co-operation of all our patients. Appointments are booked at 10 minute intervals - this means that your consultation can last up to 10 minutes. Please be aware that your doctor cannot deal with several problems safely and thoroughly in 10 minutes and you should therefore expect him/her to deal with only one problem in each consultation.

Sometimes a patient is particularly unwell and their medical needs require the doctor or nurse to take longer with them than their appointed 10 minutes. We do allow some time within each surgery in case this should happen but when a consultation over-runs this may cause some delay for the next and subsequent patients. Please do not blame the doctor or nurse - they are simply trying to provide the best care they can and to keep every patient safe. We ask you for your patience and tolerance when this happens as it may be you that needs more time the next time you attend.Please allow for possible over-running when you book your appointment - we appreciate that it can be very frustrating if you are kept waiting when you have another appointment elsewhere to get to so we need to work together to make our appointment system work for everyone.

You can help, too, by making sure you arrive on time for your appointment. To minimise late running please note that if you arrive later than 5 minutes after your scheduled time the doctor may not be able to see you immediately. You will be informed if this is the case and will be offered the choice of waiting until the end of surgery (it may be sooner if a convenient slot arises) or to make another appointment on a different day.

If you require a chaperone during your consultation, we will be pleased to provide a trained member of staff to support you and the doctor in this way. The doctor will offer this service but do feel free to ask for this.

Extended Hours Appointments

The practice offers extended surgery times on Thursdays and Saturdays. Pre-bookable appointments with a doctor are available from 6:30 pm up to 8:00 pm on Thursdays and between 9:30 am and 12:20 pm on Saturdays. Patients who work may find these appointment times helpful. If you particularly require an extended hours appointment please inform the receptionist when you telephone to book.

Please note that for your convenience lunch time appointments are also regularly available with some doctors and with nurses on certain days.

NHS 111

What is NHS 111?

NHS 111 is a new service that has been introduced to make it easier for you to access local NHS healthcare services in England. You can call 111 when you need medical help fast but it’s not a 999 emergency. NHS 111 is a quick and easy way to get the right help, whatever the time. Dialing 111 rather than 999 keeps the 999 number free for very serious emergency medical cases.

If you need to see a doctor or nurse in person, the NHS 111 operator will advise you of this and may help to arrange this.

What About A&E?

A&E stands for ACCIDENT and EMERGENCY – it does not stand for ANYTHING and EVERYTHING!

Going to the hospital for urgent care does not mean that you will get a better doctor - it is often more likely that you will get a junior doctor in training!

Many patients attending the hospital accident and emergency department (A&E) could be treated more appropriately and quickly by their own GP, local pharmacist or even by themselves with basic first aid or a little advice.

Please do not use A&E inappropriately – if you do so you may cause problems for people who really do need urgent attention for an accident or emergency and you will have a long wait to be seen .

Out of Hours

Emergencies

Chest pains and / or shortness of breath constitute an emergency. Call 999 in a medical emergency.

DO NOT call 999 for anything other than an emergency.

Non-Emergencies

When the surgery is closed, please call the Practice in the usual way on:

0121 622 4846

Your call will automatically be transferred to Birmingham And District GP Emergency Rooms (BADGER). If, for any reason, your call is not connected to BADGER you can telephone them directly on 0121 766 2100.

What is BADGER?

BADGER is a group of local GPs who provide care outside surgery hours for patients of a number of GP Practices. Some of our own doctors help provide services at BADGER from time to time. BADGER provides services for our patients:

On Wednesday afternoons

Between the hours of 6.00 pm and 8.30 am Monday to Thursday

From 6.00 pm on Friday through to 8.30am on Monday.

When your call is transferred to BADGER their staff (nurses and doctors) will give you telephone advice, ask you to attend one of their medical centres or, if the condition requires it, provide a home visit.

Alternatively, you can call NHS 111. NHS 111 is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Calls are free from landlines and mobile phones.

Please see the NHS 111 tab above for more information.

Home Visits

If you think you require a home visit, please telephone the surgery on 0121 622 4846 before 11:00am so the doctors can plan efficient use of the day.

When you ask for a visit you will be asked for details of your health problem and for a contact telephone number.

You will be told that the On Call Doctor will telephone you to find out more about your illness. Please stay by the telephone, make sure the phone is set so that you can answer it immediately (i.e. not on voicemail), and wait for the doctor to call. When the doctor calls, s/he will assess your request and decide whether a home visit is necessary or whether your problem may be better dealt with in another way.

Visits can only be made to people whose health problems prevent them from getting to the surgery. This is because the doctor is better able to diagnose your problems with the facilities available at the surgery than with the equipment that they carry with them. Please be prepared to come to the surgery if it is at all possible.

Please note that on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons from 1.00pm onwards responsibility for dealing with any home visit requests is taken over by our 'out of hours‘ service. If you telephone the surgery on either of these afternoons you will be given the telephone number for Birmingham and District GP Emergency Rooms (BADGER). A BADGER doctor or nurse will triage your request in the same way as we would at the practice (see the Out of Hours tab above for further information)

Keep It Or Cancel It

Please make sure you keep or cancel your appointment - do not miss it without giving us notice as this deprives another patient of an appointment.

How to Cancel an Appointment

If you are unable to keep your appointment, please give us as much notice as possible so that your appointment can be offered to someone else.

If you are cancelling please telephone us on 0121 622 4846 as soon as possible, and at least 30 minutes before your appointment time. This will enable us to offer your appointment to someone else.

Alternatively you can cancel your appointment online if you are signed up to the service. (See 'New patients' - 'On-Line Registrations' for more details).

Cancellations notified less than 30 minutes before the appointment time will be recorded as failure to attend.

Repeated failure to attend booked appointments is a significant waste of NHS resources - please see the tab above for our policy about Missed Appointments.

Missed Appointments

Repeated failure to attend booked appointments not only wastes appointments that could have been used by other patients with an urgent health need but is also a significant waste of our (NHS) resources.

You may be surprised to learn that our patients sometimes waste over 300 appointments per month! We therefore advise you that we monitor patient non-attendance and we will write to you if you miss a booked appointment. If you repeatedly fail to keep booked appointments we may ask you to explain why this has happened or ask you to register elsewhere.

Appointment Reminders

You can now register to receive confirmation of your appointment booking and information regarding health care by text message on your phone. If you sign up for this service, you will also get a text reminder of your appointment 24 hours in advance.

If you wish to register for this messaging service please fill out the consent form.

Please make sure you update us whenever you change your mobile telephone number.